SEC may reverse course on basketball scheduling

Unhappy with the disparity between its divisions a year ago, the SEC abandoned the divisional format for men's basketball this season. But with Texas A&M and Missouri joining the league next season, conference officials may have to take a look at reversing course in 2012-13.

At the least, several SEC basketball coaches said Wednesday, the current conference schedule of 16 games is likely to expand.

"I think there's a lot of good arguments out there and we need to get in a room and hear them all and make a decision," Georgia coach Mark Fox said during Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference. "One of the arguments that's been presented is to go to two divisions and play 19 conference games, play everyone on your side twice and everyone on the other side one time. Go back to how we did it a year ago, just with another team in each division."

Alabama coach Anthony Grant and Kentucky coach John Calipari said they believe the SEC will go to an 18-game conference schedule, although Calipari said he wasn't necessarily in favor of it.

"We don't get as many non-conference games," he said. "You just added two top 20 teams. Missouri hasn't lost a game. Texas A&M, historically, you know what they've done in basketball. We've just gotten stronger.

"If you look at all the top 25 programs right now, we're playing one of those schedules. Can you play all these road games, can you do all this stuff and add two top 25s? We've got to make decisions on our schedule and how we're going to do this without overloading our players or putting the program in jeopardy."

Fox said another issue is a yet-to-be-addressed NCAA proposal to shorten seasons in all sports.

"If they do shorten the season and you're playing more conference games, that really takes a chunk out of your non-league schedule," he said. "I think we've got to preserve some of those non-league matchups and opportunities.

"I probably would not favor 16 (conference games). I think with 14 teams, you need more than 16 games to really figure out who the best team is."